The Meaning of Job 26:6 Explained

Job 26:6

KJV: Hell is naked before him, and destruction hath no covering.

YLT: Naked is Sheol over-against Him, And there is no covering to destruction.

Darby: Sheol is naked before him, and destruction hath no covering.

ASV: Sheol is naked before God , And Abaddon hath no covering.

KJV Reverse Interlinear

Hell  [is] naked  before him, and destruction  hath no covering. 

What does Job 26:6 Mean?

Study Notes

hell
Heb. "Sheol," . Also, Psalms 139:8 ; Psalms 139:11 ; Proverbs 15:11 ; Hebrews 4:13 .
Sheol is, in the O.T., the place to which the dead go.
(1) Often, therefore, it is spoken of as the equivalent of the grave, merely, where all human activities cease; the terminus toward which all human life moves (e.g. Genesis 42:38 grave Job 14:13 grave Psalms 88:3 grave
(2) To the man "under the sun," the natural man, who of necessity judges from appearances, sheol seems no more than the grave-- the end and total cessation, not only of the activities of life, but of life itself. Ecclesiastes 9:5 ; Ecclesiastes 9:10
(3) But Scripture reveals sheol as a place of sorrow 2 Samuel 22:6 ; Psalms 18:5 ; Psalms 116:3 ; in which the wicked are turned Psalms 9:17 and where they are fully conscious; Isaiah 14:9-17 ; Ezekiel 32:21 see, especially, Jonah 2:2 what the belly of the great fish was to Jonah that sheol is to those who are therein). The sheol of the O.T. and hades of the N.T. (See Scofield " Luke 16:23 ") are identical.

Context Summary

Job 26:1-14 - "the Outskirts Of His Ways"
Job taunts Bildad with his reply as having imparted no help or thought. He then proceeds, Job 26:5-14, to give a description of God's power as manifested in Hades, in space, in the clouds, in the ocean, and throughout the universe. The spirits of the dead tremble before Him; the grave and destruction that veil themselves in night are stripped before His gaze; the world itself is suspended in space by invisible threads (a wonderful foreshadowing of the true theory of the earth); the waters are held in the clouds, which do not burst under their weight but act as the veil of God's throne; the sea owns His authority, hushing under His word or rising in its might; His breath brings the dawn; His hand strangles the dragon, as representing a well-known constellation, Draco. But these are only the outskirts of His ways. Great as is their acclaim as they circle His throne in thunder and splendor, they are but as a whisper compared with His divine power and Godhead. All that the scientist has known of God is, when compared with His essential nature, what the quiver of a leaf in the breeze is to the crash of the thunder-peal. This, O child of God, is thy Father, and His power is for thy defense. [source]

Chapter Summary: Job 26

1  Job, reproving the uncharitable spirit of Bildad
5  acknowledges the power of God to be infinite and unsearchable

What do the individual words in Job 26:6 mean?

Naked Sheol [is] before Him and no has covering Destruction
עָר֣וֹם שְׁא֣וֹל נֶגְדּ֑וֹ וְאֵ֥ין כְּ֝ס֗וּת לָֽאֲבַדּֽוֹן

עָר֣וֹם  Naked 
Parse: Adjective, masculine singular
Root: עָרֹום  
Sense: naked, bare.
שְׁא֣וֹל  Sheol  [is] 
Parse: Noun, common singular
Root: שְׁאֹול  
Sense: sheol, underworld, grave, hell, pit.
נֶגְדּ֑וֹ  before  Him 
Parse: Preposition, third person masculine singular
Root: נֶגֶד  
Sense: what is conspicuous, what is in front of adv.
וְאֵ֥ין  and  no 
Parse: Conjunctive waw, Adverb
Root: אַיִן 
Sense: nothing, not, nought n.
כְּ֝ס֗וּת  has  covering 
Parse: Noun, feminine singular
Root: כְּסוּת  
Sense: covering, clothing.
לָֽאֲבַדּֽוֹן  Destruction 
Parse: Preposition-l, Article, Noun, masculine singular
Root: אֲבַדֹּו 
Sense: place of destruction, destruction, ruin, Abaddon.